Official NHL 2005-2006 Season Thread

[Mal Brossard]

Any team refusing to employ an enforcer deserves any ass-kicking they get.

Eric Cairns was the closest we had as an enforcer down here until he got traded.
Being a season ticket holder, I got an invite to a state of the team meeting with Coach Jacque Martin. Since nobody hardly goes to the games, I should get alot of time to ask him why our team sucks so frigging bad on the road

Jacques Martin, ouch.  He was notorious for dressing the worlds' pussiest teams in Ottawa when he was there too.  We'll give you Andre Roy!

They need to call up Pete Vandermere from Hamilton and have him kick some ass.

Any team refusing to employ an enforcer deserves any ass-kicking they get.  Bring up Vandermeer or Ivanans NOW!!!

They did call up Ivanans. They should still call up Vandermere. Instill some fear in the other teams. Vanderemer was like the only guy in Professional hockey to have 30 goals and over 400 minutes in penalties I think. Somthing like that anyway when he played for the Phantoms. he can score and he'll nock the piss outta guys. bring him up!!!

Whatever happened to the days when Montreal had some tough teams?  Shit, they had the first real enforcer ever, in John Ferguson.  Pierre Bouchard, Larry Robinson, John Kordic, Chris Nilan, Todd Ewen, Moose Morissette, Lyle Odelein, Darren Langdon... Damn.

[Skeba]

Finally a win!! And a great one too... Now we can lose the next 10 again..

Nah.. Hopefully this was a sign of things turning better....

[Karma_Police]

Finally a win!! And a great one too... Now we can lose the next 10 again..

Nah.. Hopefully this was a sign of things turning better....

What a crock of shit. I'm glad they won but why the hell do they play like that for Huet? Has the team really lost confidence in Theodore? Bullshit. If Theo gets the shaft and they move him outta Montreal I'd love to see him win the Cup ala Patrick Roy just to show what a bunch of dumbasses the Habs organization is when it comes to treating their number ones with proper respect and confidence.  Theodore the only reason they ahve made the playoffs the last two times and the only reason they ahd any type of success in the playoffs and they're bailing on him like he's got the plague. I've got your back Theo. You da man!! Just win a game

[Neemo]

I think Skeba was talking about the 8-1 drubbing that the Pens handed to the Caps.

What's with that cheap shot on ovechkin huh? i got him in my pool

[Neemo]

Leafs are going down the shitter big time, Defensemen injuries on a weak blueline are taking their toll. I feel sorry for Eddie Belfour.

They desperately need 2 good Defensemen

McCabe is a #2 defenseman at best and Klee is a solid 2nd pair guy, and Colaiacovo/Khavanov would be alright as the third pair.

but...

Tomas Kaberle

and

Aki Berg

They need to move those to bums

and their big moves from the summer:

O'Neil - Bust (really streaky player, i thought he was more consistant, wow)
Lindros - Bust (surprise, surprise the Big E is hurt again)
Allison - Actually doing not to bad but he is playing nowhere near as good as in his Bos & LA days

And Sundin needs to step it up a bit here, his shooting % and goal Scoring has dropped off dramatically since he put that fucking visor on, and now that Roberts is gone so he has no one to light a fire under his arse. Although he showed a bit of spark last night, but i think that was more frustration than anything.

Also they regularily play 7 forwards that are natural centres and only 5 guys that are actually true wingers, WTF is that?! Get a decent guy that can score from the wing, left or right it don't really matter but when your top 2 wingers are Darcy Tucker (but he's hurt right now) and Alexei Ponikarovsky ... then you have problems.

[Mal Brossard]

I think Skeba was talking about the 8-1 drubbing that the Pens handed to the Caps.

What's with that cheap shot on ovechkin huh? i got him in my pool

Congratulations Capitals!  By just sitting back and letting Ovechkin get speared with no retribution, you just gave the entire NHL the green light to run him all they want!! The Caps will let you do so absolutely free of charge or retribution!! That's right! AND, if you call within the next 20 Minutes, we'll even through in this combination plum-pitting yogurt squirter at no extra charge! That's a value of $59 for free!!

The state of the league sickens me.  Although I'm not sure which is worse: the fact no one came to the aid of Ovechkin, or the fact Ovechkin needed someone to defend him from Ryan Whitney.

[Malcolm]

Ya the Leafs are in need big time for a good defenceman..McCabe is a really good offensive defenceman as is Kaberle..Colicolvo is a good all around defenceman but they need a stay at home one now..and Berg got hurt last night so tehres another one down

[Skeba]

Congratulations Capitals!? By just sitting back and letting Ovechkin get speared with no retribution, you just gave the entire NHL the green light to run him all they want!! The Caps will let you do so absolutely free of charge or retribution!! That's right! AND, if you call within the next 20 Minutes, we'll even through in this combination plum-pitting yogurt squirter at no extra charge! That's a value of $59 for free!!

The state of the league sickens me.? Although I'm not sure which is worse: the fact no one came to the aid of Ovechkin, or the fact Ovechkin needed someone to defend him from Ryan Whitney.

I didn't see the spearing. NHL.com only showed the goals of the game since there were so many. I think people from Caps said that if it was a cheap shot, they'll play the Pens again on the 6th (or something to that effect).  So I guess if it was as bad as some people said it was, there'll be some action in the next game.

[Mal Brossard]

Congratulations Capitals!  By just sitting back and letting Ovechkin get speared with no retribution, you just gave the entire NHL the green light to run him all they want!! The Caps will let you do so absolutely free of charge or retribution!! That's right! AND, if you call within the next 20 Minutes, we'll even through in this combination plum-pitting yogurt squirter at no extra charge! That's a value of $59 for free!!

The state of the league sickens me.  Although I'm not sure which is worse: the fact no one came to the aid of Ovechkin, or the fact Ovechkin needed someone to defend him from Ryan Whitney.

I didn't see the spearing. NHL.com only showed the goals of the game since there were so many. I think people from Caps said that if it was a cheap shot, they'll play the Pens again on the 6th (or something to that effect).  So I guess if it was as bad as some people said it was, there'll be some action in the next game.

One would think so, but, well, this is the Caps we're talking about.  Their management calls Brendan Witt, Chris Clark, Matt Bradley, and Nolan Yonkman "enforcers."  Their only possibility is to call up that minor-league punching-bag Robin Gomez or trade for someone (Laraque?)

Why did they ever let Stephen Peat go?

[Mal Brossard]

P.S.-- Habs fans, ask and you shall receive.  The Habs called up Ivanans AND signed Aaron Downey.

[Communist China]

Them Leafs make me laugh. every time you're in trouble you bring in a 33 year old forward. Defensemen, who needs defensemen? (8-4 loss at home to Buf) That's who needs defensemen!

[Karma_Police]

Yeah!! Finally an O.T. vs the Leafs goes the Habs way. Jose loked good and Koivu stepped it up tonight. Now hopefully the can build on this and start a home winning streak. Leafs losers of 8 in a row. gotta love that as a Habs fan

[Rob]

Man, that Rangers/Pens game Saturday was fun to watch.  I don't remember the last time I've seen a team get outplayed that badly.  The Pens remind me of the Rangers a few years back.  They had lots of overpaid, over-the-hill vets who would basically dog it every game.  The defense is terrible, and also like those Rangers, they are a very small team.  Its a shame for the few guys that are still giving what they got on that team (Crsoby, Oulette, Fleury).

[Malcolm]

The St. Louis Blues traded second-leading scorer Mike Sillinger to the Nashville Predators on Sunday night for forward Timofei Shishkanov.

RALEIGH, NC (January 30, 2006)  - Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired center Doug Weight from the St. Louis Blues.

Weight will join the Hurricanes for the team's practice at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Thursday. Rutherford will be available to the media today at 3 p.m. in the RBC Center's fourth floor conference room.

"Doug is one of the premier forwards in the National Hockey League and will add a strong element to our top lines," said Rutherford. "His skill, leadership and experience will be a great benefit for our team."

In exchange for Weight and left wing Erkki Rajamaki, the Hurricanes have traded their first round draft pick in 2006, Toronto's fourth-round pick in 2006, Chicago's fourth-round pick in 2007, right wing Jesse Boulerice, center Mike Zigomanis and rights to unsigned draft pick Magnus Kahnberg to the Blues. Carolina acquired the fourth-round pick from Toronto in the draft-day deal that sent Jeff O'Neill to the Maple Leafs, and acquired Chicago's 2007 fourth-round pick in the Dec. 29 trade that sent Radim Vrbata to the Blackhawks.

Weight, 35, leads St. Louis with 33 assists and 44 points, and ranks third on the team with 50 penalty minutes in 47 games this season. The Warren, MI, native has notched seven of his 11 goals on the power play. He will represent the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy along with Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette and left wing Erik Cole.

[Neemo]

pretty decent move IMO, it's obvious they are gonna try to make a run for the cup, it'll be interesting to see what other moves they make as the season winds down.

With Staal, Brind'Amour, Cole, Stillman, Williams, Adams, Whitney and now Weight all at forward positions I wonder if they'll move somebody for a top-notch Defenseman.

In other news, the leafs finally won again, but lost  another defenseman in the process (Khavanov). McCabe is suposed to be back tonight though.

And Jovonovski is out for at least 6 weeks for Abdominal surgery so that means that McCabe should get the nod for team Canada at the olympics, if he stays healthy that is. It would be the first Leaf in a long while to make the team

[sandman]

that's an incredible move by carolina. an aggressive move by their management and shows a committment to win it all.

i was hoping the flyers would make a trade for him. they are waiting to see if preems can make it back this season. a decision will be made near the end of february. if not, they will try to make a blockbuster deal, cause they will have $2M available under the cap. so they could afford anybody's pro-rated salary. 

the flyers stole a game from the rangers last night. a much needed win after playing like shit the last few games. the rangers were up 1-0 most of the game, then 2-0 in the 3rd. the flyers tied it, and then won it in OT. beating the rangers always feels so good.  especially in MSG.

[Rob]

the flyers stole a game from the rangers last night. a much needed win after playing like shit the last few games. the rangers were up 1-0 most of the game, then 2-0 in the 3rd. the flyers tied it, and then won it in OT. beating the rangers always feels so good.? especially in MSG.

Haha, I guess you can take sandman's comment there and switch some of the words around and you'll have my thoughts on the Rangers win against Phily yesterday.  Back in first place, baby.

[Neemo]

Woo hoo!!!!!! hockey is back tonight

It felt like the season was over (or like they were back on strike )

anyway with the season winding down, Ottawa has lost their foothold and my Red Wings are fighting with Carolina for the Presidents trophy.

Here is to all the old Hartford fans that stuck with that shitty team all those years. It's too bad you didn't get to see them win as the Whalers though

[sandman]

Heyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

the season starts tonight!

[Mal Brossard]

"This game is gay now," Brashear observed. "You can't even do anything anymore... They changed the game to favor the superstars. You can't do anything anymore to set some respect out there."

I despise Brashear as much as any player (by far my least-favorite enforcer, and I use that term loosely in his case), but I gotta admit, he does have a point.  He was given a one-game suspension for going after Darius Kasparaitis and getting an instigator penalty.  Kasparaitis was being his usual pest-like self and doling out borderline hits.  Oddly enough, Brashear got 27 minutes in penalties without even dropping his gloves.

Go ahead, call me a racist for not liking him (it has nothing to do with him being black), call me a homophobe for this, but I for one agree with his commentary.